


How to Hate the Ones You Love

by theappleppielifestyle



Series: Falling 'Verse [5]
Category: The Avengers
Genre: M/M, Tony has daddy issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-17
Updated: 2012-03-17
Packaged: 2017-11-02 01:39:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theappleppielifestyle/pseuds/theappleppielifestyle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It almost surprises Steve how easy it is to take a step forward into sight, to Howard  Stark: Billionaire, old friend, dead for twenty years, the cause of Tony's monumental, psychologically scarring, colossal and catastrophic daddy issues-</p><p>And punch him in the face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Hate the Ones You Love

Everyone's been treading kind of carefully around Tony since a 23-year-old version of him had completely fucked up the laws of space and time and had shown up bleeding out on Pepper's carpet with cut wrists.

Rhodey especially. He's still kind of pissed that Tony never told him that it had gotten that bad- he pins it down, because hell, Tony doesn't need another thing to worry about.

Pepper- Pepper glances at his left wrist sometimes, where the scar is, but other than that she pushes it out of her mind. She has acknowledged that yeah, Tony has enough issues to fuel America for several lifetimes, shut up, move on, fill out the damn paperwork that keeps piling up.

Pepper sighs, clenching her hand. It's really beginning to hurt. She finally calls it quits and leans back, her fingers twinging in protest. 

God, she needs a holiday.

Steve is sitting in the corner, next to the door, doing his own paperwork. Pepper's helping him through it- he doesn't really know 21st century terms yet. He's still confused about the internet, honestly. 

_Knock, knock, knock._

Pepper looks up as the door opens, surprised to see the trademark flash of black hair- Tony never knocks. 

Steve starts to move out of the way. 

Pepper sighs. "What do you want, Ton-"

She stops.

Her pen clatters out of her hand and onto the floor.

Steve is standing behind the man, the door having obstructed him from view when he was coming in. He looks towards Pepper, confused, but Pepper's having trouble organizing her thoughts.

The man raises her eyebrows at Pepper, and then down at the pen, and up to her face again.

"Are you okay?"

She doesn't answer. Her mouth is dry. Her hand still hurts. There's a siren in the distance. There's a TV on down the hall. Steve still isn't moving- he can't see the guy's face; he doesn't know who he is. 

The man in front of her still has his eyebrows raised, and he's looking at her in concern.

Concern. She hadn't seen that expression on his face in the news. Or in the newspapers, or in that picture frame in Tony's lounge- she never met him, never really wanted to-

"Hey, Pep, how's work-"

Tony walks into her office, scrolling through his Blackberry, his sunglasses pushed up onto his forehead, and then he sees the man.

Pepper has never seen that look on Tony's face before.

Tony says, "Dad."

It almost surprises Steve how easy it is to take a step forward into sight, to Howard Stark: Billionaire, old friend, dead for twenty years, the cause of Tony's monumental, psychologically scarring, colossal and catastrophic daddy issues-

And punch him in the face.

 

"I fucking hate time-travel. I hate Dr. Doom's time-travel machine. I hate Dr. Doom. I hate everything Dr. Doom has ever made. He made a swarm of house-sized worms last week. They stormed New York. We had to kill house-sized worms. Who the fuck makes house-sized worms? Dr. Doom does, that's who. I hate Dr. Doom."

Clint has been talking for a while.

Usually it's Tony filling in the silences with his rambling, but he's otherwise occupied by not talking to anyone and therefore ignoring the entire world, so Clint took up the opportunity.

Unfortunately, he uses up his whole 'I hate Dr. Doom' speech, and he's really not adept to the whole rambling thing, so after a while he just shuts up and twiddles his thumbs in a way that no-one really expects from a person that can kill you with a pencil sharpener.

Natasha glares at Steve pointedly, jerking her head towards Tony, who is staring out the window with his jaw locked.

Steve has already tried everything, but he's not giving up on Tony yet.

He touches his arm gently. Tony never really got 'gentle' much from anyone else but Steve. "Tony?"

Tony turns his head, looking straight at Steve, who startles, because wow, okay, that was easy.

Then he starts to giggle slightly. Steve doesn't move, because he's not sure if he's having a breakdown or what-

Then Tony bursts out laughing. "I can't _believe_ \- you punched him in the face."

Steve blanches. "It- it was a split-second decision. It was- unprofessional."

"It was awesome," Tony gasps.

A SHIELD agent sticks her head out of the door. "Mr. Stark? Junior?"

Tony waves his middle finger. "Present."

"We've run the tests," The agent says. "Your father is currently two hours away from dying in his own time. It seems to be the same as Dr. Doom's last efforts. Howard Stark will slip back into his own timeline in approximately less than an hour. If you-"

"I don't want to see him," Tony cuts her off.

The agent fixes him with a look. "He wants to see you."

Tony clicks his jaw, looking intently at his hands. 

_Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, Tony._

-

"Drink?"

Howard holds out a bottle of whiskey.

Steve wants to punch him again. It runs in his head, like a loop: _Howard. Coward._

He looks over at Tony- his jaw is clenched so tight Steve's afraid he'll chip a tooth.

Steve expects Tony to do that fake smile that he always does, but Tony's face is blank as he says, "I don't drink."

Howard looks at him, surprised. "Okay," he says. "More for me, then." He pours himself a glass and takes a swig; the ice-cubes clinking against his teeth.

"Nice to see you bothered with a glass this time, thanks, Dad," Tony grates. "Can I go now?" 

"Tony, what happened?" Howard asks, and Tony feels it like a physical punch.

And there we go, there's the smile that makes Steve's stomach twist in a horrible way as opposed to when it's genuine and it's stunning.

"What part?"

"The- everything! Steve's alive, the machine in your chest-"

"Obie happened, dad, not like you'd give a shit," Tony snaps. "Obie- remember Obie, you guys probably went out drinking a few hours ago in your time- got some terrorists to kidnap me, and then they tortured me for three months, and when I came back with the arc reactor, Obie paralysed me and took it out of me. Steve didn't die in the 40s, he got frozen and we defrosted him two years ago and badda-bing, badda-boom, here we are, father dearest. Anything else?"

Tony's shaking slightly when he stops talking. Steve lays a hand on his arm. 

Tony doesn't notice. "And since you've already recorded the tape by now, what the fuck? 'My greatest creation is you'? _Honestly?_ I'm not a fucking machine, dad, I'm not this tool that you can use for your legacy or whatever the fuck you wanted me to do-"

"You are the heir to Stark industries, I needed t-"

"Do you know how fucking long it took me to stop drinking, you fucker, I only started because I didn't want to feel for a while, and then I figured, hey, it worked for you and it worked for Mom, why not just keep-"

"You're my successor, I needed you to continue working on my inv-"

" _All you ever cared about were your inventions,_ do you even know what it did to Mom, she barely talked to anyone after I turned 12-"

 _"Tony."_ Steve's voice falls like an avalanche between them, and he's still gripping Tony's arm and Tony is on his feet, full-out trembling now. 

Tony shoves a shaky hand through his hair and sits down, staring pointedly out the window.

Howard watches the soft blue light of the arc reactor and Steve can see him thinking of how it works, how to take it to pieces, how to take everything to pieces, bit by bit.

 _Look at your son,_ Steve wants to say. _That's all he's ever wanted. How the hell did you turn into this?_

"We're leaving," Steve announces, keeping his voice steady, and they both look at him. 

Less than two minutes in the room together and then leaving again. Yeah, sounds like the Stark boys.

Steve gets to his feet. "Goodbye, Howard." 

Tony starts to follow, but Howard says, "Tony."

Tony clenches his jaw again. He doesn't turn. "Yeah?"

"The agent told me that you two were- together."

Steve turns around, but this time Tony stops him.

"Yeah, dad." Tony says it without the heat from before. "We are. And I think it can actually last."

He does that wrenching smile again, the one like hopelessness, like giving up, and Steve wants to kiss it from him. "I know, I know. Starks don't get what we want, right, dad? Starks don't get happy endings. But fuck you, Howard."

Tony walks around Steve and out of the room, the door hanging open behind him.

There is a silence. 

"Steve," Howard says, and stops. He swallows.

Steve almost ignores him and walks straight out after Tony, and it's at the back of his mind again: _Howard. Coward._

"I-" Howard's gaze drops. "I wish-"

"What?" Steve finally turns. "That you could change things? You- god, Howard, you were a good guy, once."

"Once," Howard agrees. "Things... happened. I did what I had to do."

"What you had to do?" Steve repeats, taking a step closer.

Howard frowns. "Wh-"

Steve bends down. "You had an _amazing_ kid, and he loved you, Howard. You could have gave him a good childhood. You could have given him what he needed. But you just drank and shut yourself in your workshop when _Tony needed you."_

He keeps his voice low through the whole thing. "You are a manipulative, abusive bastard. You don't get forgiveness, Howard. You don't deserve it."

He doesn't stop to hear his response as he walks out.

-

Tony's not in the foyer. 

Steve looks questioningly at Clint, who nods towards the door and mouths, 'I don't fucking know.'

Steve very pointedly keeps his pace normal as he walks out, like nothing's wrong, he can handle this, everything's fine, and yes, Tony is in the hallway, sitting with his back braced against the wall, his head tipped back and his eyes closed.

Steve looks at him for a second, how even his posture is defensive, before sliding down the wall next to him.

"Hey."

Tony's mouth flickers upwards. "Hello." 

One of his hands are half-pressed to the arc reactor, rubbing tiny, self-concious circles.

He breathes out heavily, opening his eyes to the ceiling. "Fuck, Steve, I'm sorry. I thought I was over at least a few of those things, I swear to God, I went in there fully meaning to be all civil, but fucking hell, _Howard."_ He laughs humourlessly.

Steve nods. "He's... different to when I knew him."

Again, the chuckle. "Yeah, I bet."

"So," Steve says, and Tony is still glaring at the ceiling.

Steve shifts closer. "Starks don't get what they want?" 

Tony startles slightly, but he doesn't look at him. "Uh, yeah. It was a thing that he used to say. Like, nothing else matters but the company, so it doesn't matter what we want, and, uh. We don't get to be happy, or whatever."

He pauses before finally looking at Steve. "You happen to be the exception." 

He looks away immediately after he says it, but Steve catches his chin in his hand and kisses him, muffling Tony's surprised grunt.

Steve is smiling when he draws back. "Love you."

Tony says it fast, but he still says it. "Love you, too. Now, I was promised a movie night tonight. Are we getting that or not? We didn't let Dr. Doom's bullshit stop us from having a Lindsey Lohan marathon last time-"

"I'll get everyone back to the mansion," Steve cuts him off fondly. 

Tony grins, the genuine version this time, and Steve's stomach flips almost painfully as he is lead back along the hallway.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I have always wanted to write a 'Tony has daddy issues' fic.
> 
> I got bored and people wanted one, so.
> 
> Ta-da?


End file.
